RESUME WRITING

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Introduction
What is a résumé? A résumé is a brief summary of your professional employment history, education, qualifications, and experiences. It is also a marketing tool to sell yourself to potential employers. Your résumé is the employers first impression of you and it should be a reflection of the best of you, so make it count. The average employer spends approximately 10 seconds reading your résumé. Therefore, be sure your résumé is easy to read and is not too cluttered. Your résumé should be appealing to the eye so the reader is drawn to it and should not have to search for information.

Getting Started
Start by making a list of your current job responsibilities and work backwards to your previous jobs. Write down all of your job responsibilities, as well as accomplishments such as, special projects, committees you served on, training you either received or gave, etc. An example is if you served on the recreation committee and you assisted in planning the company picnic. The skills you used such as, organizing, marketing, follow through, and meeting deadlines, could be an asset in you next job. Gather any other pertinent information about yourself. Include 10 - 15 years of employment history. If you have a gap in employment history be prepared to explain why.

There are several types of résumés:
Chronological - The emphasis is on employers and dates of employment. Shows stability in your profession, who you have worked for and years of experience.
Functional - Emphasis is on the positions you have held and the titles of your jobs so reader immediately knows what you have done.
Skills-Based - Organized around the skills, area of knowledge you have acquired over the years in different jobs - good for career changers or individuals with little experience.

If you are applying for several different types of positions, you may need several different résumés.

Helpful Tips

A one page résumé is adequate and two pages is acceptable but should not be cluttered.
- Never lie, distort, or exaggerate the truth on a résumé.
- Use correct grammar.
- Be direct and to the point.
- Use action verbs in the past tense such as directed, supervised, etc.
- Be specific about dates (month & year are acceptable), jobs titles, and 
  employers
- Omit all personal pronouns such as I, we, etc.
- Bullet form is best because it is easier to read and find information
- Adequate margins and spacing are important.
- The best type of paper to use is white, it copies well. Avoid flashy looking 
  résumés and do not include a picture of yourself.
- Salary requirements, abbreviations, busy words, reasons for leaving jobs, 
  and personal opinions should be excluded.

A cover letter is not necessary.

Organizing Your Résumé
The following are categories in the order in which they should appear on your résumé:

Name, Address and Telephone Number: Include your name, address, zip code, and telephone number (with area code) on the first page; you name only should appear on the second page. You may add a message telephone number or office telephone number.

Objective: The objective should be direct and to the point, example: I am interested in a position as a Marketing Manager. The person reading your résumé will not spend the time to figure out what position you are applying for, so make it clear.

Professional Highlights: You may or may not include this section on your résumé. Professional highlights are a summary of major accomplishments you have made in your career. Example: Managed and negotiated outside contract services resulting in cost savings of ~$300K.

Work Experience

Use descriptive job titles and name and location of company. Begin with most recent year first. Give a brief job description beginning with an action verb.

Stress achievements and accomplishment results.

Treat significant voluntary experience as paid experience.

If you have been in the same industry and the same type of position for a number of years you do not have to list out each job responsibility that is assumed. Example: If you have been an administrative assistant for 10 years it would be assumed that you are capable of answering telephones, filing, and making travel arrangements. Instead you can list these things as general office duties.

Group short term or temporary jobs under one heading or employer if possible.

Education:

Lead with highest degree, institution, major and dates (if attained in the last 10 - 15 years), otherwise avoid dates.

Highlight courses, workshops, or seminars of specific relevance to objective.

Can include academic honors if relevant or seeking entry level position.

Omit high school information if you have any college, it is assumed.

Education can be listed after job objective when you are a recent college graduate. If your GPA is favorable, include it.

Honors and Professional Affiliations: List organizational and professional memberships and activities that would indicate interest ability, and leadership. Include only those activities that have importance for your prospective employer.

Personal Data: Do not include any personal information, other than name, address, and telephone number.

References: A statement at the bottom of the last page of your résumé is sufficient. Example: References available upon request. A reference sheet listing all of your references which includes names, telephone numbers, and titles is a good idea to have available when needed.

Writing a Job Description

Get the job description from your company's employment office for your present position. If one is not available use the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (D.O.T.) available at the State Employment Office, College Placement Offices, or the library. Over 10,000 job descriptions are in the D.O.T.

Use the job description from the newspaper add or internet for the position you want and reflect that job description into your résumé.

Use action verbs to begin each sentence of your job description.

Employers look for problem solvers. You must be able to show via the résumé and your interview that you can solve problems and successfully accomplish tasks given you. Being able to describe your work experience in terms of accomplishments will make your résumé stand out.

What did you do?

Object(s) worked on

Goods and services produced

How did you do it?

With what equipment?

By what method?

With what materials?

Why did you do it?

Job as a whole - purpose?

What was involved - quantify

Speed

Accuracy

Volume

Number supervised